Using Technology to Support Higher Order Thinking

How can technology be used to support higher-order thinking?

• Technology can be used to support higher order thinking because certain games and technologies within the classroom call for children to do more than just recognize recall or guess things. Games used effectively within the classroom call for the players to see whats going on in the game, analyze what they are seeing. With comprehension of the topic after analyzing what they see in the game a student can infer what is going to happen. Also technology that supports higher order thinking enables the students involved to create and have initiative, and initiative is huge in higher order thinking because it shows that a person understands what is being taught in multiple ways and they can use it and create with it.

Give an example of technology that supports higher order thinking

• A good example of technology that is "my wonderful world", a site that uses geography to teach children about different areas. This technology does just that by using google earth to immerse the child into whatever area of the world the child is google earthing. By immersing the students digitally and allowing them to move about digitally its more like being there and the student is not just guessing or naming random facts, instead they are seeing the towns and areas that they are learning about and they can make inferences about the area based on the culture and geography they see in the tours of whichever area.

Using Technology to Affirm Diversity

How can technology be used to affirm diversity?

• technology can be used to affirm diversity because it can be used to allow children to celebrate, respect and model diversity. Children can celebrate, respect and model diversity through technology by finding online resources surrounding diversity. Students can go to these websites and see and hear about all aspects of certain diversities. By having these websites that teach children of other cultures, these websites celebrate diversity by spreading cultures and informing others of that culture. These types of technologies also teach respect by showing students all those students the different aspects of a certain culture allowing them to appreciate and respect it. Lastly technologies can model diversity by having pictures, mp3 files and other things that are uploaded to the site that are actual parts of the culture.

Give an example of technology that affirms diversity and be specific in describing HOW it affirms diversity?

• An example that affirms diversity is "living voices", this example affirms diversity by showing students pictures of the Indian culture as well as mp3 files and interviews of first hand accounts from people within the Indian societies. By having these different types of media its more interesting and engaging for the students and has them genuinely interested in the culture. By showing all these different aspects of the culture and teaching children about Indian culture this website is a great way of celebrating, respecting and modeling diversity.

Using Technology to Support All Learners

Talk about the importance of Assistive Technologies in the classroom to support learners with special needs.

How can technology be used to address the needs of learners with special needs?

• Technology is used to address the needs of learners with special needs by giving them assistance technologies that are tailored to their needs. By having technologies that are tailored to their needs these students can work past their disabilities. Having a piece of technology that puts these children back on a level playing field with other students it allows them to be more involved and feel more like a part of the class as opposed to a hindrance or obstacle.

Give an example and explain how it would support students with special/diverse needs in your future classroom?

• One example of how it would support students with diverse needs within the classroom is aside from helping the student understand the material it allows the student to feel more like they are part of the class. By giving the student an opportunity to learn at the same rate or in the same way as their peers it allows them to feel more like their peers and to relate to their peers more easily then if they did not have their assistant technologies. thats how these technological innovations are allowing for kids to be more and more able to function as a class and embrace peoples differences.